FC Barcelona's draw at Villarreal by the numbers

Barça dominated in most statistical categories but came home with one rather than the three points

www.fcbarcelona.com

11:00AM Monday 09 Jan

09 Jan 17

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- Against Villarreal, Luis Enrique was taking charge of his 150th game as FC Barcelona manager. Sadly, he couldn’t celebrate the milestone with a win, but the vast majority of the games he has overseen in his two and half years as first team boss have gone his way. He’s collected a mighty 114 wins, 19 draws and just 17 defeats, seeing his side score 424 goals and concede just 113.

- The equaliser at the newly named Estadio de la Cerámica came in the 90th minute and it was the sweetest of strikes from Leo Messi. The Argentinian is in form. That was his sixth goal in five matches and like his midweek effort against Athletic Club it came from a free kick, the 25th such goal for Barça.

- Leo Messi thus also became the first player this season to score against Villarreal from outside the area.

- Messi had had several chances before that. The best came when he hit the post on 73 minutes. Frustratingly, no Liga team has hit the woodwork more times than Barça this season – that was the 11th chance to be denied by such a close margin.

- Barça stretched their unbeaten run against Villarreal to 17 matches in all competitions. There have been 13 wins and four draws since the defeat at the Camp Nou in the 2007/08 league season.

- Andrés Iniesta led the Barça midfield in typically masterful fashion. He was involved in more moves (63) than any other member of the team and 97 of his 111 passes found their man. He was also second in successful tackles with ten.

- There was a runaway leader in that category, and it was Neymar Jr with 19. Although the Brazilian once again went unrewarded with a goal, his overall performance against Villarreal was thoroughly impressive.

- At the end of the game, both players and manager agreed that the team deserved a lot more than a point. The statistics agree with that view. Barça had 71% of the possession and took 20 shots on goal, seven of those on target. Villarreal, in turn, only made six attempts in the whole game, with three of those on target.